Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-31
HUNTING BEAVER.
THE MANNER OF TRAPPING THE
CUNNING ANIMALS.
Their Peculiar and Intelligent Rab.
its-An Inspection of Their
Houses and Work.

North America there used TO 90 out in the
way of exports to Europe something like
100000 beaver skins annually. The Hud-
son Bay Company can attribute most of its
wealth to the slaughter of them and the
sale of their hides; and, in fact, the settle
ment of the extreme northwest might
really be credited to the beaver more than
to any other fur-bearing animal, or to any
other primary cause.
Along the upper Yellowstone, or Milk
river, and particularly in the Yellowstone
Park, are still to be seen numerous de-
serted caches and dams which were once
the homes of great colonies of workers.
Beaver lake, in the Park. is rightly
named, for had it not been for the presence
of the four-footed builders there Beaver
lake would not now be in existence The
place where this charming sheet of water
is located at first contained no signs of \
lake simply small stream of SLUGGISH
water winding down through the canyon.
hemmed in on one side by the lannon's
Obsidian cliffs and on the other by a
mountain of dead timber. The beavers
came, they saw, and they conquered :" for
by an instinct truly marvellous they selected
the site with view to surroundings tim
Der, roots, grasses, etc, galore), and by
damming one end of the canyon with a
series of distractions, converted a MAS
matte marsh into a lovely pond, and pro-
vided for themselves one of the most
charming homes on earth.
Looking down through the clear, trans
parent waters of this pond one can see
numerous runaways crossing from shore to
shore, each succeeding dam higher than
the preceding, until the final or last one
catches and holds all the water that is
necessary for their wants. Right here we
read from the ground-or rather from the
ground under the water-the story of
their labors as from It printed page. The
first dam answered all their present
wants, but as the aqueous fluid increased
IN volume and ran over the top, a second
dam was constructed higher than the first.
When dam No. became overhowed a
third was built, and so on down the can
yOn until final one was made nearly at
the outlet of the gorge, which gave the
lake such surface of water that no tor
rent or rush in the spring could possibly
wash away the piece of engineering which
certainly discounts the best of human
skill.
I once had an opportunity of investi-
eating a beaver house. First stood upon
the oven-shaped roof, and although con-
structed simply of light twigs, willow
switches and mud, my weight made not
the slightest depression. Cutting through
some fourteen or fifteen inches of solid
roof, there appeared to be sort of under
ground town, with liquid streets, where
there was any quantity Of winter food laid
up in the shape of cordwood." There
were partitions which divided the under
ground warehouse into apartments, with
no communication between them except by
means of water canals.
The authorities advance the idea of
these partitions not being erected for the
purpose OF dividing up the interior, but
for supporting the roof of the main build
ing. The posts are solid and substantial.
rendering a cave impossible, and displays
rare sagacity in the animals for the solid
supporting of a heavy roof. Verify these
underground cities are miniature Venices,
excepting that the inhabitants go swim
ming around the streets, instead of floating
from place to place in fanciful gondoIas
In trapping these wonderfully wise ro-
dents man must bring into play considera-
bic more sagacity and cunning than would
DO required in trapping or capturing any
other two or four-footed dumb creature on
earth. The beaver has7intelligence second
to none in the animal kingdom, and so it
puts the trapper on his mettle to snare
them successfully. Out here in the North
west the following rules are chiefly in
vogue among woodsmen who have followed
beaver-trapplng as calling:
A steel trap is sunk beneath the surface,
say ten or twelve inches, and near the en-
trance to the food cache 1t rests upon a
log or stones built up from the bottom.
This is anchored to a !ong pole or log, one
end of which is kept beneath the surface,
willows or a small sapling near the bank,
so us to allow it to swing freely.
Just above the water out of reach is sus-
pended the tempting bait, which consists
of the castor or medicine gland of the
beaver. 1t is called medicine gland from
the fact that it is most remarkable and
astonishing cure for all the ills beaver is
heir to. The "castoreum is contained in
two pear-shaped sacs situated near the Or
gans of reproduction, is yellow-colored,
strong smelling oil, and is the ne plus ultra
OF medicine for doctoring beaver ailments
1t not only acts as Il restorative in every
case of sickness or wounding, but also rem
ders the fur of the animal impervious to
water As an example of what this pa
nacea can do in the way of mending, a
hunter Of this section relates that he went
10 one Of his traps on the Upper Yellow
stone, in the spring of 1874, and found in
it the fore-foot and part of the leg of a
very large beaver. Ten days later, at the
same place and in the same trap, he caught
the identical beaver by the other fore-foot,
and discovered that the leg from which
the lost foot had been twisted ten days be-
fore was healed over and nearly sound.
To return. When the quadruped comes
swimming along to enter his underground
apartment, he smells the tempting morsel
proyokingly placed just beyond his reach,
and paddles about under the same wonder
ing how in the world he is going to get
that castor. He feels about with his hind
legs for something to stand on, finds the
traps, puts down his legs to rest on it, and
so, literally speaking, puts his foot in it.
Snap! bang go the iron jaws, and the
innocent laborer is prisoner.
Now, were it not for the extraordinary
intelligence of this brute, and his known
ability to cope with almost every emer-
gency, there would be no need to take
further precaution to insure his capture
but even given that the chain held him
fast, and was anchored to the end of the
log at the bottom of the lake or pond, what
is to prevent him from diving down and
gnawing off the end of the pole where it is
held by the chain? The beaver can stay
under water at one time nearly three min
utes; and as their teeth are a series OF
charp ehisels, capable of the quickest kind
of business when life is at stake, it would
take them but few seconds to free them
selves from chain and pole, no matter how
large the latter might be.
These animals are to-day as they were
one thousand years ago. Their dams and
houses and systems of work, play and feed
ing are never improved upon, but go on
year in and year out in the same old rut,
and still displaying among it all a remark,
able degree of common sense and reason
ing.
Now, how does the northwestern trapper
prevent his quarry from following the
chain down, and chiseling the end Of the
pole or log off?
When pole is used to anchor the chain
Il L L